8+ Readers in comparison - Page 38

mgmueller · 05-21-2010, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Logseman

You should change the title of the thread

"8+" did seem okay. "18+" even for me seems a bit too much...

mgmueller · 05-21-2010, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgmueller

I'll compare to the "old" Opus over the weekend.

It's funny: The package seems very much "inspired" by nook. Rigid and expensive looking, but extreeemely similar...

New one:
Firmware version: 2.0 (build 1170)
Adobe Reader Mobile: Version 9.1 (build 28890)

Old one:
Firmware version: 2.0 (build 1094)
Adobe Reader Mobile: Version 9.0 (build 26696)

Seems to be the same processor, though I've read somewhere differently.

I'll check in more depth of course.
But so far, I don't see much of a difference.
The "new one" has very interesting screen savers, I'll take some pics afterwards.
The control LED is green instead of blue. Probably to keep contrast to the blue housing.
The samples have the old metadata structure: Book title, author, publisher. That's what I'd like to see instead of filenames. Question is, whether this applies to manually added titles as well. I'll check asap.

AnemicOak · 05-21-2010, 02:12 PM

If you get a chance sometime can you see if the firmware on the new one supports bookmarks and multi level tables of contents.

mgmueller · 05-21-2010, 02:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

If you get a chance sometime can you see if the firmware on the new one supports bookmarks and multi level tables of contents.

Briefly checked an ePUB file on both.
Menu Structure is absolutely identical.
There's no command for bookmark, so I wouldn't know how to set one.

Just have checked the new sleep mode: Instant-on in 1 second. Working flawlessly.

Geppetto · 05-21-2010, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgmueller

I'll compare to the "old" Opus over the weekend.

It's funny: The package seems very much "inspired" by nook. Rigid and expensive looking, but extreeemely similar...

I'd say it's inspired by iPod

I'd like to know how it handles epub and pdf formats: are there any improvements from the previous firmware?

mgmueller · 05-21-2010, 05:57 PM

Great.
Like before the firmware update 2.0:
It shows:
Book title
Author's name - Publisher
File date
File size

Exactly what I wanted. Totally worth it, I hate the filename mode.

carmelra · 05-21-2010, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgmueller

You can have FBReader on iRex' units as 3rd party apps. Haven't tried yet, sorry.

Sure. No problem. It will be nice if you will be able to check it one day in the future.
Thanks anyway

mgmueller · 05-21-2010, 06:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carmelra

Sure. No problem. It will be nice if you will be able to check it one day in the future.
Thanks anyway

Shaggy should be a great source concerning iRex units.

AnemicOak · 05-21-2010, 07:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mgmueller

Great.
Like before the firmware update 2.0:
It shows:
Book title
Author's name - Publisher
File date
File size

Exactly what I wanted. Totally worth it, I hate the filename mode.

Now if we can just get an update for the original Opus to do this again.

mgmueller · 05-21-2010, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Now if we can just get an update for the original Opus to do this again.

At least we know, it does exist! I've been worried, they might stick to the filename mode we see on so many units (for example on BeBook Neo).

mgmueller · 05-21-2010, 09:27 PM

No change at all: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...0&postcount=33
Most of the covers of PDFs still are distorted. Quite annoying, as there's no mode without those covers - you see them all the time.
Here, in direct comparison, the Sony units really shine.

aceflor · 05-23-2010, 09:51 AM

I need your actual opinion on the bebook neo and the nook. I am looking at those for a friend of mine, she insists on a white unit

and was quite crazy about the nook until she saw the neo, now she doesn't know anymore. She is flying tomorrow to the US and I won't be able to communicate with her from then on, she wants me to tell her whether she should get the nook while over there.

Since I don't have the nook, nor the Neo, I really don't know what to tell her....

mgmueller · 05-23-2010, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aceflor

I need your actual opinion on the bebook neo and the nook. I am looking at those for a friend of mine, she insists on a white unit

and was quite crazy about the nook until she saw the neo, now she doesn't know anymore. She is flying tomorrow to the US and I won't be able to communicate with her from then on, she wants me to tell her whether she should get the nook while over there.

Since I don't have the nook, nor the Neo, I really don't know what to tell her....

I've already answered your PM concerning nook.

Comparing nook and BeBook Neo:

Design:
For me, "touch and feel" of my gadgets is very important.
Somehow, I can't get fond of Neo's looks.
Neo is quite similar to Kindle 2. For example, I don't like the brushed aluminum backside of Neo.
And I don't like the blue illumination in the center button, when charging or when signaling some activity.
nook on the other hand looks like an extremely polished Kindle 2. Stylish and cool.
nook for me, concerning looks, wins hands down.

Battery:
Neo still drains battery in standby. It's one of the few units I permanently turn off because of that. It's no disaster, boot time is about 30 seconds only. But nook is "instant on" within 2 or 3 seconds.

Bookstore and mobility:
Both have a bookstore. But Neo only links to standard webshops. On one hand, that's great, you can purchase and download ePUBs from various sources. But on the other hand, it's not too much fun, surfing standard websites (not optimised for the low resolution and slow refresh rate) on ePaper displays.
Both have WiFi. But in addition, nook has 3G. You can exchange the US AT&T SIM and replace by your own. I'm using my iPhone Twin-Card. I can surf the B&N bookstore via 3G and WiFi and put the books of choice in my wishlist. I even could install VPN on nook and buy directly on the fly on nook. I buy on PC though, because I want to backup my files anyway.
BTW: I love nook's cover flow mode. Looks really great, at least for original content (for sideloaded content, you need to softroot nook and it looks less "spectacular").

Dictionary support:
It's relatively weak on Neo, comparing to Sony or Kindle. nook's dictionary is way better.
But it's a pain to manage on nook. The cursor remains on the ePaper display and you move it via cursor buttons on the touchscreen. Meaning: You stare at the touchscreen to find the cursor buttons, but you have to track the cursor movement on the upper screen. That's solved way better on Alex: The text syncs to the touchscreen, you mark the word of interest on the LCD and check the dictionary.

Display quality:
nook has a phantastic font and concerning contrast even beats Sony 505. Neo is close enough, about even with Kindle 2 and Sony 505.

Covers:
For me, nook has the best covers out there. A friend of mine brought one for me from the US - phantastic.
The Neo covers I've seen are highly functional, but look and feel way cheaper.

SUMMARY:
Neo's advantage of course is its touchscreen.
nook's advantage of course is 3G (exchangeable SIM!) in addition to WiFi and the great bookstore.
nook has another huge advantage for me, but this might be "mgmueller-specific": I can use B&N's PDBs (and soon its ePUBS as well) on iRex 800, another favorite of mine.
I haven't found any interesting 3rd party applications for Neo. For nook, there's a very active "hacker scene" with nice add-ons.
I don't like nook for sideloaded content, even with the softrooted NookLibrary. Cover flow doesn't look very nice for sideloaded content and the menu in NookLibrary is slightly different. So I use nook exclusively for B&N content - and for this it is phantastic.

aceflor · 05-23-2010, 01:00 PM

Super thanks !! I did not receive your message since it is posted on your page until just now, but I now have all the information she needs. I'll keep you posted on what she decides in the end !!!

mike_bike_kite · 05-26-2010, 05:01 AM

This is a great thread but it's difficult to simply get an overview of what devices are being compared and how they rank against each other. I was trying to find how the Neo ranked and what sort of teething problems it might be having - reading 38 pages is very informative but a bit of a pain. Would it be worth editing the first post and showing a list of devices with a simple list of pros and cons against each. I understand that as prices change and new firmwares are released that opinions will change but at least the useful info in this thread would be accessible at a glance. I also appreciate that all the opinions are subjective.

Mike

05-21-2010, 05:57 PM	#561
mgmueller Member Retired Posts: 3,308 Karma: 13024950 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Augsburg (near Munich), Germany Device: 26 Readers, 44 Tablets	Got Metadata again (new Cybook Opus) Great. Like before the firmware update 2.0: It shows: Book title Author's name - Publisher File date File size Exactly what I wanted. Totally worth it, I hate the filename mode. Last edited by mgmueller; 05-21-2010 at 09:25 PM.

05-21-2010, 09:27 PM	#566
mgmueller Member Retired Posts: 3,308 Karma: 13024950 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Augsburg (near Munich), Germany Device: 26 Readers, 44 Tablets	Covers of PDFs still distorted (new Cybook Opus) No change at all: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...0&postcount=33 Most of the covers of PDFs still are distorted. Quite annoying, as there's no mode without those covers - you see them all the time. Here, in direct comparison, the Sony units really shine.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Large list of readers (140+) and comparison charts	tomereader	Which one should I buy?	1	07-30-2010 02:14 PM
Printable life size comparison of Ebook readers inside	scheichxodox	Which one should I buy?	0	03-13-2010 02:56 AM
Comparison of 36 eBook readers on sale worldwide	thinkpad	Which one should I buy?	8	02-10-2010 07:19 PM
Review and Comparison of 4 E-ink Readers	billyad2000	Which one should I buy?	1	11-04-2008 09:15 AM

05-21-2010, 02:12 PM	#558
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	If you get a chance sometime can you see if the firmware on the new one supports bookmarks and multi level tables of contents.

05-23-2010, 09:51 AM	#567
aceflor Wizard Posts: 3,472 Karma: 48036360 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: where the sun lives, or so they say Device: Pocketbook Era, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Scribe	I need your actual opinion on the bebook neo and the nook. I am looking at those for a friend of mine, she insists on a white unit and was quite crazy about the nook until she saw the neo, now she doesn't know anymore. She is flying tomorrow to the US and I won't be able to communicate with her from then on, she wants me to tell her whether she should get the nook while over there. Since I don't have the nook, nor the Neo, I really don't know what to tell her....

05-23-2010, 01:00 PM	#569
aceflor Wizard Posts: 3,472 Karma: 48036360 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: where the sun lives, or so they say Device: Pocketbook Era, Pocketbook Inkpad 4, Kobo Libra 2, Kindle Scribe	Super thanks !! I did not receive your message since it is posted on your page until just now, but I now have all the information she needs. I'll keep you posted on what she decides in the end !!!

05-26-2010, 05:01 AM	#570
mike_bike_kite Digitally confused Posts: 500 Karma: 1500000 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: London, UK Device: KPW, K2i, Nexus 7 32gb, Kobo Mini	This is a great thread but it's difficult to simply get an overview of what devices are being compared and how they rank against each other. I was trying to find how the Neo ranked and what sort of teething problems it might be having - reading 38 pages is very informative but a bit of a pain. Would it be worth editing the first post and showing a list of devices with a simple list of pros and cons against each. I understand that as prices change and new firmwares are released that opinions will change but at least the useful info in this thread would be accessible at a glance. I also appreciate that all the opinions are subjective. Mike